could texas be getting ready to hoard some gold? state lawmaker is proposing the state create a texas bullion depository to allow them to store gold at its own facility at the protection of the state. it would have its own ft. knox allowing it to be protected under the tenth amendment. this is this morning's squawk on the tweet. if your home state would make its own departmenttory, what would it be? is a depository for my extra large sugar drinks so bloomberg couldn't take them away.

larry writes, michigan would make a depository for detroit mayors. and mole writes, for illinois, coal. and for now and for years more, it just makes cents. take a look at some of the u.s. banks. prettiey esiest interesting day shaping up. big gains at the top of the session. and the dutch finance minister made comments suggesting the cyprus bailout as it is known could essentially become a template for the eurozone as a whole and big losses for the yup peen banks. jpmorgan, some bank of americas were all up pretty handedly. they did get awfully close to the all-time closing high. as we look at them, you can see some of them have lost some ground. facebook, interesting story. six-month high in january. today facebook is at the lowest levels of the year. we just had a big conversation about the content, marketing space and the monetizatidaetiza

thereof. finally, jcpenney did get a downgrade today to a sell, i believe, the worry watch continues over ron johnson's rein at that company. even retailers in general continue to to have a nice run of dollar general beating this morning as well. that stock was up 4% earlier in the session. for us, get down to swot wapner at the tavis cup as we start halftime here on cnbc. all right. carl, thanks very much. welcome to the halftime report. we are live from the tavis cup down in orlando florida. some of the pga best along with some of the wall street's big hitt hitters. over the next hour we are talking with todd wagner, along with mark cuban, sold comcast.com to yahoo! in 1999.

also talking markets with citi private banks ahead of investments. first, the story of the day and that is the markets reacting to the deal in cyprus. steve drag driving down to florida here with me alongside paul richards as well, our friend from ubs. paul, he me get your reaction as we watch how the markets are reacting to this deal in cyprus. how should we be thinking about it? >> scott, i like the deal. i saw it last night. i think the eu blinked on the fact that 100,000 deposit insurance had to be insured and they did that. everything was fine. what did he say? this could be the template for things going forward. investors don't like uncertainty and he just gave us uncertainty. i don't think like what they did. right now we've got uncertainty. >> we saw a turn in the market on those comments not only over in europe but the banks selling off here in the united states, some of our banks, their stocks, steve, selling off to overall market taking a downturn as well. >> what's interesting is the

euro traded down on the deal. usually when you have had deals, the euro strengthens. what i'm concerned about is that you will see a flood of capital coming out of the european banks, out of deposits, people will be insured for 200,000 euros or 150. that will create a much tighter, you know, much tighter circumstance in terms of money that's available to lend to get business going again. that's my concern. that's why the markets down and should be down, frankly. >> the s&p is only, you know, 10, 11 points away from its all-time, you know, closing high. so how should we be playing the u.s. market? didn't we just get one big uncertainty out of the way? >> no, i think you've created another uncertainty. at some point -- here's what happened. germany said we're not funding this anymore. we've got politics. bev got merkel coming along with an election. her party has not been supportive of previous bailouts. it's been the other party. she's worried about her job.

so what i think you have right now is a period where the u.s. markets continue to consolidate. it's not running white. it's strongest market. i think the u.s. and u.s. banks at track capital and makes them much stronger. if i had money -- let me go back. i spoke to a very large head funds manager. he pulled every dollar or euro he could out of the eurozone. took it out of luxembourg. we talk about balances in banks to gdp in cyprus at eight times. in lum lux xem borg it's 27 times. if you're not getting paid, interest rates are so low, why tolerate the risk? pull it out. >> why not buy u.s. stocks here? getting a pullback. cyprus deal happens. if that story is still intact. stocks are still relatively cheap. nowhere else to get a return. why not buy stocks here? why not buy the financials right now give reason the fact they

3u8d back on this headline from the dutch finance minister? >> actually, i did find it this morning. >> the ceo last night. that's the only place i added. i've been cutting back on exposure elsewhere. take a look at what didn't look this morning. the materials, caterpillars, global industrial stories that will continue to be under pressure. no inflation and the market is going to tight sgln let's get right to the exclusive comments i got just a short time ago from george lewis. the founder of tavis dot group and one of the most success tul currency traders of all time. on sigh prus he said they had a good opportunity to let cyprus go. better play here would be, you know what, that is it. you're out. you're small. let them go. what is your reaction to that? >> i always respect mr. lewis' comments but at the end of the day the timing would be wrong to

let them go. what do you do with spain and italy. you to let them go now would have caused almost an avenue lanlg. >> his bigger point is, okay, now that you've done this with cyprus, now, you're going to have x country, y country, z country now lining up and holding the eurozone hostage. >> i do. at the end of the day, you know, europe said, listen, give you $10 billion, not $70 billion. that's the maximum we're going to allow. you know, it was definitely a push to russia to an extent. you talk about luxembourg. >> joe louis has made a good bulk of his fortune and fame as one of the world's great inve o. vesters. on the euro, calling it over priced.

fair value is 110 to 120. no realtime frame of when it will get there but it will get there. also calls europeans their own worsen my saying they're making themselves uncompetitive by keeping the currency high. it's one thing if everybody is playing the same game. it appears the europeans are playing another one. >> you've got to look at countries like germany where you look at the u.s. where the economy is starting to look up again. there's plenty of people in the u.s. buying quality merchandise from the likes of germany. it goes to 110 and gives them ultracompetitiveness and to an extent that joe is right you but to get a strong dollar would be a question of timing and when it starts tightening. >> certainly one of the most crowded and one of the most successful trades for some of the world's best currency traders. here's what joe told me. he's been shorting the yen against the dollar. it will be a far longer trade

than people realize. it will be a very lornlger tradition. george has made near lay billion dollars betting against the yen since november. >> i think he's right. at the end of the day, you and i have been discussing for a while and it will get an even bigger kick when u.s. unemployment starts to drop and we see interest rates start to go up. this is a guy to really watch. april 4th is the meeting. i think you're going to see the reaction. i think it is going to go to 110, 120. i think joe is right. >> if you like that trade you've got to like the japanese trade. they're just going to make themselves more competitive. for all the talk about china, forget about china. sell your china and buy japan if you want to be in that part of the world because as they take their currency lower, export markets come alive and all the savers, they're going to have to start taking and look for risk opportunities they will do a lot better. going back to joe's comments on cyprus, let them go.

i would say that we should let greece go, then we wouldn't have let cyprus as an issue. that was the failed opportunity. i think you can draw a hard line. as a kid, i'm grounding you for a week and then you say, i'm grounding you for a day. and then you say i only give you 20 bucks instead of 40. you can't keep doing it. at some point discipline has to be imposed. i think the euro is tremendously overvalued. the only reason draghi held 25 bits in his pocket is because he knows he needs to use it. >> they have, what, another meeting on april 4th? >> we'll see what he has. >> i don't think he will do much. i think you're right, it's over valued. at the end of the day they need to let it go. having made this decision. >> 1235 draghi said he's not letting the euro go. as long as the put is around, i'm fine on the year row. >> i want to move on another currency. would you be a buyer of toyota,

for example? >> germans are -- they're unique because they own luxury car segment so i think the gamblers and the bmws and audis do fine. i think toyota will do tremendously well. i would be a seller on those because they are going to be much more expensive than japan and japan takes longer term time frame. >> everybody talks about the euro. everybody talks about the yen. i wanted to talk to mr. lewis as well about the currency that not a lot of people are talking about that he likes to trade. the peso. says mexico has all of the right characteristics in his words. and, paul, i guess, look, they have a stable -- a good government in joe's words. they have low inflation. their interest rates are low. what do you think about that? >> also have a border with the u.s. >> that was also a central point that joe made. >> 100% right. i can dell you that from a flow perspective, we see 12% of the flow, all major investors are

still going to mexico. any dip, they buy. 100% right. >> the overall equity mart in the united states. on wards and upwards. a lot of good things happening in the united states. he likes the housing story. bernanke is there. you know what happens with all that. joe louis is quite bullish on the u.s. equity market as well. so interesting conversation that i had with joe lewis. thanks for him for speaking with cnbc on his view on the global markets. when you look at what's happening here, steve, in the market today, you know, the dow is down now 62 points. we get the cyprus thing out of the way and yet we're not having a better market day. can we really trace this exclusively to these comments coming out from the dutch finance minister? ? you're sitting at home and siing, i thought they were going to get cyprus out of the way and go up. told me i should be a buyer of the market on any dip, what are you supposed to think of this

move we're having now? >> it's nothing. really is nothing. it's just a blip. they say corrections are healthy for the market. they've never been good for my health in correction because i hate losing money. i would say that you can get in on the long-term still. they're still valued out there. i continue to focus on the leverage. the bears say margins have never been so high. i say margins are high because that's great because the corporations will send and continue to grow. that will fall to the bottom line. long term, i think you can get? >> let's thank paul richards for sitting in with you. i like seeing you up there. >> i don't mind being here, either. >> paul richards of ubs. let's go back to hq and get a market flash with josh lipton. >> scott, check out dell which is enjoying a day in the green here. the news, dell saying received alternative proposals from blackstone and carl icahn that could be superior to the offer from michael dell in silver

lake. the company saying that michael dell is willing to explore the possibility of working with third parties on alternative offers but the special board committee considering a sale to supporting it. scott, back to you. >> all right, josh lipton. thanks so much on dell. that's an interesting story. >> it is. >> i spoke with rich earlier today who told me that there's a shareholder and a big one. it's inconceivable that the special committee won't view either of the groups as superior to the dell silver lake bid. >> i looked at the blackstone letter they sent to the board. there were enough details there. i don't know the details. what i do know, though, is that 42% of the stock will stay public. he's not buying it. with blackstone you have the option of buying it or, you know, selling your share or going along for the ride. the key thing to me is that michael dell said he will work, which he has to, right? he will work with whoever buys it. that's critical.

he's not there. i don't know who runs it. it's not easy to find people to run these companies. i would take my money and run. maybe it goes up another buck. >> you would take the money now? >> i would. i just think it's a terrible growth story for the pc business. >> isn't that at the end of the day what the story is, trading the stock or investing the stock, at the end of the day it's a story of whether dell the can compete going forward or they cannot. >> here's how private equity work. blackstone will come in and make sure they get their money out. leverage it up and you're left with what's left. much more coming up on "the half" right here in orlando, florida. the head of investments for north america is going to join was his view on the markets including how to ride the volatility roller coaster. coming up later on 2929 entertainment, todd wagner is back. he's going to join us with the rest of the hour. we're going to talk about tech

and media and the economy and much more when a special edition of "halftime" returns from right here in orlando, florida.

welcome back. live today from the tavistock in orlando, florida. overseeing $250 billion in

global assets under management. happy to have the man who makes the investment for the clients. the u.s. equity markets? >> we are looking at a time of transformation. we think that represents opportunity. we see the uncertainty in the markets and business environment has been reduced. which it does set up though is it's going to make corporate leadership to dividend increases. >> one of the most interesting things of the notes that i'm reading from you today, stocks are not cheap, you say, which is certainly contrary to what we have heard from other people who say, yeah, they are cheap. >> it's a relative game, too, right? steve was talking before the break about japan and europe we tried to get our clients exposed to those markets. japan is much more attractive in terms of valuation multiples.

you've got to go in and, of course, hedge 2 currency risk. >> the bond market, the great rotation where yields are relative to equities and how ones should be best positioned there? >> you've got to be prepared positioning now for a eventual rise in the interest rates. the fed program unmost precedented support on monetary terms is coming to an end. if you look at 150 basis point rise in the ten year, that will take you to 3 1/2. 30 years, 4 3/4. for a long-term bondholder it's going to hit your portfolio 15%. by the time you start to get the moves they tend to be sudden. now is the time to think about diversifying your sourceses of income and actually we think looking at floating rate funds and going in and pursuing some of the dividend paying equities is the way to go. >> we have your view but what are your clients and customers talking about? >> more inclined to act. go back looking at uncertainty freezing people, not just corporate leadership but investors as well.

there are also in addition to looking at selective opportunities and equities and adjustable rate, they are looking to benefit from dislocation and volatility and we still see with corporations, with banks, european banks, very interesting opportunity we can make available to our clients. >> let's look at it this way. so tell me where you were a year ago in terms of positioning the portfolio, fixed income versus equities, just so we get the magnitude of what we're saying we have just come through a period where we were a contrarian bull on bonds. we think and we stuck with that thesis for a long time and it worked out well for us. we have not been out in front in terms of u.s. equities are screaming by here. we are undermarkets as i mepgsed. more attractively valued. now we do think it is starting to rotate. we don't think the bond yields are going to fall any further. >> breakdown percentages. so if you were, for example, 15%

fixed income a year ago and 50% equities, what are you now. >> we phrased our weight ins in equities between 5% and 10 mrs. if somebody was at 45, they should be at 50 to 55 and reducing looking to lighten up on fixed income by the same amount. >> what's the liest highest you get? >> moderate risk investor. we can go up 80%, 90%. >> we're looking at the top holdings of u.s. income, equity portfolio. pretty diverse group of businesses. just a sector question. technology, for example, people are wondering what your view on technology would be at a time when large cap tech hasn't participated as some had hoped it would. did you have a view? >> we're emphasizing stocks with certain characters are ticks. it's less of a sector view. there are some tech names that have some things in common with consumer stocks. and what you want to be looking for is about to increase the dividend. you know, corporate payouts,

dividend payouts on stocks in the u.s., 30% currently. we think there's a lot of value in finding the companies that are going to be increasing the dividends. >> that's great visiting with you again. thanks for coming on with us. look forward to seeing you again soon. they started playing golf here so that's why maybe you here some laughter and cheers. >> laughter was when i was speaking. let's be honest. >> we'll be right back here. shares of blackberry taking a dive today after gold machine saks downgraded the stock this morning. we're going to break down the call and tell you whether the analysts got this one right. as we head to break we wanted to give you a sense of exactly what the t oorksavistock group is, t have stock and the albany resort in the bahamas. it's a community created with ernie els and tiger woods and here in orlando, 7,000 acres and

includes a new medical school, research center and children's hospital. you get the idea. they're in a diverse array of businesses here and how about this, they also have an investment in the soccer team currently ranked fourth in english premier league. special edition of "halftime" returns after the break. here's the jersey. they are building a new stadium over there. it's going to be a beautiful new stadium. here's a jersey of the spurs rig here. again, you may not have real lies ized it but they own that time, too.

welcome back. we're at the tavistock company in orlando. i want to talk about a mover today. >> check out blackberry which is in the red here. goldman sachs cutting its rating to neutral price target, down 17

bucks. the analysts talking about the disappointing u.s. launch of the new z-10 smart phone. blackberry down 4 hrs here. scott, back to you. >> josh lipton, thanks so much. we've talked about this stock so many times. do you put anything in this downgrade today? what do you think about the stock? >> here's what's troubling. i went on at&t's website and i looked for the new blackberry, the z10 and i found it in the second row with all the other phones featured in the big spot was the samsung 4. so doesn't seem that at&t is fully behind it. verizon has left the launch. i think the launch has been soft. great in europe. i'm worried -- i still think the end game for blackberry is get acquired. the technology is actually very good and best securities software in smart phones. >> at the end of the day how much of this downgrade has to do with the actual phone itself or the fact that the stock has had

a ridiculous run. >> it's had a ridiculous run. goldman has not been along for the ride. i would be surprised. morgan stanley upgraded last week. that's the one that's going to be interesting. we see so many come up and upgrade. expectations is up high. you're right. >> back here down in orlando. todd wagner is going to join us when we come back.

welcome back. we want to get right back to shade quarters with steve liesman. >> scott, thanks very much. here at fed president saying the federal falls short of objectives and the fed must continue to keep policy very accommodative. the greater risk he says in cost is that tightening policy, prematurely. the fed could remain on old for a significant period of time. the economic outlook according to dudley is a tug of war. improving fundamentals. he's very critical saying he expects a 1 3/4% drag to gdp in 2013. the drag he says unfortunate outcome. saying that fiscal policy in his mind is the opposite of what it

should be. it's short term restraint and no long-term action on the fiscal -- no physical action for the long term. the spike he says though is somewhat lower than 94 in 2004 argues that regulators should continue to guard against a sharp rise in rates. finally the treasury out with a mostly commending the deal in cyprus saying that i don't know if we have those here. the cyprus deal creates the deal resolves a recapitalizes troubled banks. they're saying the ecb liquid did commitment is very important in this regard. bottom line, treasury is commending the deal in cyprus so far, saying it has to be completed and bill dudley dovish on the outlook of federal reserve policy in the coming months. scott? >> all right, steve, thanks so much, steve liesman. you have a comment. >> yeah, they're just trying to say, hey, all clear.

calm down. don't worry about liquidity squeezes. keep investing. we're going to help you out. >> we want to get back to simon hobbs at our headquarters, european markets are closing. simon? >> the european markets are closing now. >> stock very important. we have radical change tht heart of the eurozone and it has been very, very clearly communicated to world markets within the last two hours on what were equity markets in positive territory have moved sharply lower, sharply to the red as you can see. in particular, in italy, we'll come back to that in a moment. radical changes, and we saw it in cyprus, a communicated now by the dutch finance minister. let me show you pictures of him yesterday in cyprus. no longer are taxpayers an sovereign tax holders bear the brunt of bailing out banks. very clearly, this man who is now at the helm of 17 finance ministers of the eurozone has today given a very pointed interview with reuters in the

financial times in which he said, what we did last night is what i call pushing back the risks. if there is a risk in a bank our first question should be, okay, what are you the bank going to do about that? what can you do to recapitalize yourself? this is the big bit. if the bank can't recapitalize itself then we will talk to the shareholders and bondholders. we will ask them to contribute and recapitalizing the bank and if necessary the uninsured departme deposit holders. if you have money in an italian bank at the moment over 100,000 euros and it has to be restructured, you will likely be paying the cost of that on the what is now being said in europe. and the move sharply lower on all the banking stock and european stock markets. let me show you what happened in paris and you will see this roller coaster. some of the french banks were up 2% and then we saw it plunge to the downside. can we get the charts up there? one of the things that -- thank you very much. one of the reasons that -- look

at that swing for the day overall. up about 2 1/2, 3. down 6 at one point. they underwrite a lot of the insurance for other banks around europe. that's why they fell so heavily. inevitably the italian banks are down. do you think the italian banks will need restructuring? if so, would you hold the debt? would there will a run op those banks? what are the italians going to do? they shift their money out of italy. that is a huge concern. finally, let me just smoe yhow one other bank is that devastated today. that is bancia over in spain. this is the one they are about to restructure and inject $17 billion in that. they on friday said if you know the 350,000 small shareholders that bought the ipo when it was bundled together and floated on the market by the spanish government we will their shares at cent. taking the pain for another bailout in europe. scott, i suppose the upside here

is that the politics feel relaxed enough they can do this rather than having to come in as emergency and too big to fail on propping everything up. the pain in the future obviously could cause some contagion in the meantime. back to you. >> thank you, simon. simon hobbs for us. joining us for the next half hour is investor and entrepreneur todd wagner. todd made his first billion with mark cuban selling broadcast.com to yahoo! in 1999. today his the ceo of 2929 entertainment. media company that includes development production and distribution for film and television. it's great to see you gn. i know you don't do a lot of this so thank you for sitting down with us. >> not at all. >> i want to start off by talking about tech. you are known for the broadcast.com thing, first and foremost. let's talk about apple. what are you thoughts here as we look at what this stock has obviously done for the highs of $705 to now 420 something.

what do you think is happening right now? innovation standpoint, product standpoint, just an overall, what do you think about apple? >> i think apple is an example of the great american success story. we're all focused on right now which i realize the purpose of the show is but when you think about a company like apple that was propped up by microsoft not that many years ago you are looking at to me the pure idea of an american entrepreneurialism at its best and that's what they've done. what they face now unfortunately is the law of big numbers. they're at a point now where singles and doubles don't cut it. they've got the hit home runs. that is a very daunting task. but they're a bunch of very smart people in a well-positioned company. >> what should they do with the $140 billion that they're sitting on? >> that is -- >> what should they do with it? >> that is the most interesting question at the moment. you think of and i know we're going to talk about a number of things today. you think about what they could do to american entrepreneurs. how many start-ups they should

fund, where the monies could go. obviously they could do it in a term form of a dividend but so many possibilities with where that money could go and all of the people there and what could happen with that that it's to me one of the most interesting questions about apple now is because they've been such a success of what's next. >> do you think they are afraid to get rid of the money, uncertain times? you've seen the tech landscape from all sides so you have a pretty good read on when you're sitting at the highest levels of a company how things can turn. you guys sold broadcast.com before the tech world basically came to an end. >> i think that's -- that's the point of all these companies. they are generating tons of enormous cash flow. i know we're going to talk about, to me, that ties out a responsibility to figure out how to help, as a whole, what's going on in this country and they are in a cat/bird seat to do that. they also tie into a bigger story of we're going to talk

abouty hoo and i'm sure other folks and it ties into the story of companies can be turned around. apple is a great example of that. they were left for dead and now look where they are today. >> can dell be turned around? the news is they have competing bids. at the end of the day as steve and i were talking about it all comes down to the fundamentals of dell's business. can dell be competitive again? can hp be competitive again? i think it's within of those where you have to look, in my opinion, i say this over and over again. my investment theme is bet on leaders. you have to look at the people running in and deciding if they are the ones that can turn the boat? i know this much. a lot has been written about what michael dell's intentions are. for a man who has given away hundreds of millions of dollars through his foundation, this is not about his money, this is about his legacy, his name is on the product, this is about wanting it at the point he is in his life to make an impression. whether they can be turned around? that's the -- you know, we just went through apple.

of course they can be. it's just whether he is the right person for the job. >> if you take a look at dell and we came out and said he would work with the other bidders. we expect him to say that because it's his responsiblibility. if blackstone turns out to be the winner, you know michael dell that well. would he work for blackstone and continue to run dell or would he move on because now his legacy is one of tremendous leverage and balance sheets is not what it was, he does have the ability and be in a private company with a private equity owner, the goals are different than they would be with him. would he stay along or move on to something else? >> that's impossible for me to surmise, right? i do know that entrepreneurs typically like to be in charge and call the shots and guide the boat. if someone is not able to do that then they're going to have second thoughts a it. >> how do you handicap the ability of dell as a company to succeed if he should not be at the helm? would you be a share holder?

>> it would impact me because, again, i'm bullish on leaders. that's, you know, and later in the show i know we will talk about netflix and i'll bullish on hastings, i'm bullish on the mick yell burns of the world. that's where i decide where great companies come from. that's my personal philosophy. that would impact me. >> let me ask you about yahoo!. because you're going to be forever tied to yahoo! >> absolutely. >> you had a chance to be coo back in the day and turned it down. what do you make of melissa meyer as the ceo? >> she has clearly had some bumps in the road. and now it will depend on, to me, leadership is what do you do when you have those bumps? you know, there is, you know, when netflix had their, he admitted his mistakes and made the change. it will be interesting to see as mistakes are made and we as leers will always make them, what does she do about it? what will her course of action be? will she dig in deeper or will

she say i'm going to move the boat? the other thing to me with yahoo! is, this is to me kind of their last stand to the side what it is they stand for. you know, they are something -- they are a company very hard for people to identify. they know the name. they know it's got a lot going for it. they don't know where it's going. coming up next, on our special edition, we're talking about netflix. >> i'm probably maybe the last man standing in america who actually thinks that, you know, don't give up the ship on netflix yet. they have enough time, they get that they've made somes mistakes and i wouldn't give up the shape. shares are up roughly 176% since mr. wagner made that call. not too bad at all. when we come back we'll have more with todd wagner on where netflix goes from here. we'll talk some entertainment.

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welcome to a new week. at power launch, what happened to the market. the cyprus crisis averted but what has investors worried now? imagine if you could cash in on the real estate recovery and plan for your retirement at the same time? we've got some pointers there. and zuckerberg developing a new kind of start-up, a super pac. do you like his cause or not? and now back to scott and the

group. scott? >> tyler, thanks so much. look for you at the top of the hour. quick comment from you about facebook. that was just mentioned. what do you make of what's going on with them? zuckerberg and where they think they're going to go with it? they're going to figure out mobile? >> i think that's the question of the day. they are what we tend to say what's next. they are an amazing success story. but it is too early to call where that company goes. it's just too early. >> okay. let's take a step back for a moment. talk about the bigger issues in the market. that, of course, jobs. the economy, even the sequester. the def is icit as well. these are the things that a multi-facetted investor thinks about. >> well, i'm very passionate about this stuff. i believe that our government should intertwine the education and economy in one package nape should almost be places that are merged together in how they respond to things. we no longer have the luxury of having our economy and what we do on that side separate from

the educational side. let me be very specific. right now there's probably approximately 20% unemployment rate if you're not a high school graduate in this country. that's approximately 5% if you're a college graduate. one other very telling statistic, 75% of young americans between the ages of 17 and 24 cannot even enlist in the military because there are three requireme requirements, high school graduate, no criminal record and you have to be physically fit. that to me are the problems we need to focus on instead of being so focused on what the employment rate is today but how do we fix it in the long term? >> places the whole conversation about how we're going to improve the unemployment picture in this country, right? the fact that whether you're going to find the future leaders the future ceo rz going to be running the companies that you may be investing in ten years from now? these are the kind of things that matter to you. >> i always say there's been a lot made of the, quote, mega rich and there was defined as 230,000 of those people.

i always say have them be required to hire ten new people over the next year. we create 2.3 million new jobs. more importantly, know the moneys are going to families and the people that really help them. if it just goes to the government, there's a feeling of a black hole. i have a good understanding where that black hole is when 70% of the budget is medicare and medicare and social security on the debt. >> at cnbc we had the depends that will rise above, trying to initiate our elected officials in washington to make a difference, to make things happen and to get things done rather than bickering with each other automatic the time. >> they have become hostile tribes rather than people with different opinions. that's frustratinfrustrating. that's why i continue to push this issue because as an entrepreneur, it very much frustrates me what happened there. >> so you would not make it voluntary, not give tax credit but require corporations to -- instead of raising taxes, to spend it on hiring?

>> yeah, because the amount of money i'm going to spend on a tax increase would pay for hiring those people and then they're part of the economy. they're part of the system. they feel included. and we've done something positive as to when i know 70% of where the money goes is in those programs, it becomes basically our government becomes an insurance company with the military. that to me is not how you run the country. >> then you have multiplier effect, the more people you bring to the economy the more they spend and it feeds on itself. >> and we feel more connected. the way it is now, there's this feeling of the ultrarich are in one category and everybody else somewhere else. why can't we all be together. >> you being a very influential guy and connected i'm sure you've lobbed this up to appropriate people. what's their response? >> i think, you know, i don't have to deal in the realities of what goes on in washington but everybody else does. but i'm going to keep trying to put these ideas out there and hope that something sticks and somebody says, you know, this makes some sense. maybe we ought to think about it. >> well, if you follow todd's

netflix call in 2011, you would be in the green right now, only about by 175%. so we're going to dig deep we're todd wagner to see why he's betting on -- betting big on media. more "halftime report" on the way.

>> welcome back to the halftime report. i want to touch the market again here. you see, steve, we're down about 67 points. it's the fallout or the continued fallout from this deal with cyprus. materials not having a good day at all. >> no. when the market was rich before, they were lower. so you really have to be careful about the sectors that you go in. china, to me, is just changing their economy. stay away from those. go where there is solid fundamentals that you don't have to worry about the chinese economy. i think they could earn seven bucks. >> golf is continuing behind us. adam scott just about to tee off. maybe you heard that in the backdrop. we played the clip for you earlier about todd wagner making that call a little more than a year earlier.

the stock rally ingu aboutuu 17l;;;;;;1 175%. you were right on netflix, or appear to be now. >> this goes back to something i touched on earlier in the show. ceos always have more data than anyone else. even if you're an analyst and certainly if you're a regular investor. they get to play chess while the rest of us are playing checkers. you know somany things that everyone else cannot know. i always try to bet on those leaders. so, it's certainly no guarantee

when thigh are picking shows. but they certainly have ideas. >> they are spending so much money to obtain content. at some point isn't that a concern? he could be the greatest guy and best leader in the world but at some point he has got to manage the balance sheet. >> that's true of my business. but i do like his general theme of if i get more customers, i buy more content. if i get more content, i get more customers. but you also have to take educated risks, and i think he takes a lot of good ones. when he made a mistake, he fixed it.

>> content is king and distribution is queen. basically by-passed all the traditional channels. without cable networks and satellite companies they were able to build a network. >> you are clearly still bullish with netflix. >> for me, i have always liked the story. i use it. but it has been the valuation. >> he is worth billions. i have got to adjust my thinking. >> give me some quick thoughts of yours on distribution. again, it's part of the companies that you run focus heavily on distribution. >> i think that technology is your friend and not your foe.

i always liked the technology like a freight train coming down the mountain. and i always think that technology disappoints in two years but goes furt irthan you think in ten. what can we do to make the consumer in charge? except for the big tech people, you're talking three to five million people. i want to figure out how to get that content to the widest audience possible in the most efficient way. that is where technology comes in. it may concern people but it is something that is not going the change. >> quick thoughtlionsgate. bullish? >> incredibly. this is a company that had a $50 million market cap ten years ago. to watch what they have done is

nothing short of amazing. >> we will be right back. it's monday. a brand new start. your chance to rise and shine. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you can do just that. with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week.